Escorted by this innumerable flotilla, of which the peote of the city
seemed to be the admirals vessel, his Majesty entered at last the Grand
Canal, which flowed between magnificent palaces, hung with banners and
filled with spectators. The Emperor alighted before the palace of the
procurators, where he was received by a deputation of members of the
Senate and the Venetian nobility. He stopped a moment in the square of
St. Mark, passed through some interior streets, chose the site for a
garden, the plans for which the architect of the city then presented to
him, and which were carried out as if it had been in the midst of the
country. It was a novel sight to the Venetians to see trees planted in
the open air, while hedges and lawns appeared as if by magic. The entire
absence of verdure and vegetation, and the silence which reigns in the
streets of Venice, where is never heard the hoof of a horse nor the
wheels of a carriage, horses and carriages being things entirely unknown
in this truly marine city, must give it usually a sad and abandoned air;
but this gloom entirely disappeared during his Majesty's visit.

The prince viceroy and the grand marshal were present in the evening when
the Emperor retired; and, while undressing him, I heard a part of their
conversation, which turned on the government of Venice before the union
of this republic with the French Empire. His Majesty was almost the only
spokesman, Prince Eugene and Marshal Duroc contenting themselves with
throwing a few words into the conversation, as if to furnish a new text
for the Emperor, and prevent his pausing, and thus ending too soon his
discourse; a genuine discourse, in fact, since his Majesty took the lead,
and left the others but little to say. Such was often his habit; but no
one thought of complaining of this, so interesting were nearly always the
Emperor's ideas, and so original and brilliantly expressed. His Majesty
did not converse, as had been truthfully said in the journal which I have
added to my memoirs, but he spoke with an inexpressible charm; and on